The Mosaic Handbook for the X Window System

I suspect that the Mosaic Handbook for the X Window System was written more for completeness than for a clearly defined audience.

Authors: Dougherty, Komen,
and Fergeson

Publishers: O'Reilly &
Associates

ISBN:
1-56592-695-3

Reviewer: Morgan
Hall

Why read a book review? Perhaps the most fundamental reason
is to judge whether or not to spend time or money, or both. With
this in mind, a reviewer's responsibility is to judge whether or
not a particular book is worth the time or effort, or to whom a
book would be worthwhile. Perhaps this bit of philosophical musing
may alert you to the fact that my feelings are mixed about this
particular book.

I suspect that the Mosaic Handbook for the X Window System
was written more for completeness than for a clearly defined
audience. The general tone and approach are more suited to an
MS-Windows or Mac user than to the typical Linux user. The lack of
Linux software on the packaged CD-ROM further supports this
suspicion. We're a strange breed, a mixture of knowledge and
naivety, and probably not easy to characterize.

Let's look at what the book contains, then see who would most
benefit from it.

The Mosaic Handbook for the X Window System is a “trade
paperback”--the familiar soft cover binding we know well. Inside
the back cover is a CD-ROM containing software for Digital, Hewlett
Packard, IBM AIX, Silicon Graphics, and Sun machines. Notable by
its absence are binaries for Linux or any other “PC-Unix”, such as
BSD386 or SCO UNIX.

The book itself starts with an explanation of the internet,
the services available on the internet, how client-server software
works, and a short history of the World Wide Web (WWW from here
on). In addition, it explains why O'Reilly and Associates developed
the Global Network Navigator and their view of the net and where it
will develop.

Chapter two is concerned with the Mosaic program itself. It
asserts that only a SLIP or PPP connection can run mosaic over a
dialup line (no, the book never mentions TERM). A quick explanation
of how to start up Mosaic, and the book sends the reader straight
to O'Reilly's Global Network Navigator to learn the basics of
Mosaic. The last half of chapter two is where the beginner to
Mosaic can really learn how to use the program.

Chapters three and four are mainly concerned with using
Mosaic to prowl the net. Chapter three introduces the reader to
various parts of the web; chapter four concentrates on other
services, such as archie, WAIS, news, FTP, and telnet.

Chapters five and six are concerned with Mosaic, the program.
Chapter five covers customizing Mosaic; chapter six deals with
Mosaic and multimedia.

Chapter seven is a brief (and quite useful) introduction to
creating simple documents with HTML. It explains how hypertext
works, the basic structure of simple hypertext documents, and the
minimal set of tags that a new HTML author needs to get started.
Serious exploration will quickly go beyond the scope of this
explanation, but it's a good start for someone who's totally new to
the game. Also, in chapter seven is a brief explanation of an HTML
editor and syntax checker, HoTMetaL. I haven't yet tried to find a
Linux implementation of it, but it looks like a useful tool.
Chasing this goes on the To Do list....

Chapter eight looks toward the future. It asks (and tries to
answer, in part), “Where is the Web going?” An interview (that
originally appeared in GNN NetNews) with MIT's Michael Dertouzos
discusses the evolving WWW standards, the W3O project from
CERN.

Finally, the book concludes with four appendices: A is the
Mosaic Reference Guide, B is the HTML Reference Guide, C is the
list of X resources used by Mosaic, and D is concerned with
installing Mosaic. Appendix D emphasizes the CD-ROM supplied with
the book, but also mentions obtaining copies from the net and
building from source code.

Having not read the companion volumes for Microsoft Windows
and the Macintosh, I can only speculate that most of the content is
the same. However, the general tone and level of detail make it
almost certain.

The Mosaic Handbook for the X Window System is a
well-written, informative book. However, it is not targeted at the
Linux community. In my opinion, the users most likely to get
maximum use from this book will be new users who are approaching
the net for the first time. Linux users will have to exercise their
network skills to get source or binaries (sunsite has both normal
and term-aware copies of Mosaic). I'd recommend borrowing a copy to
find the nuggets of information that it contains, but can't, in
good conscience recommend that you run right out and buy a
copy.

As Linux continues to play an ever increasing role in corporate data centers and institutions, ensuring the integrity and protection of these systems must be a priority. With 60% of the world's websites and an increasing share of organization's mission-critical workloads running on Linux, failing to stop malware and other advanced threats on Linux can increasingly impact an organization's reputation and bottom line.

Most companies incorporate backup procedures for critical data, which can be restored quickly if a loss occurs. However, fewer companies are prepared for catastrophic system failures, in which they lose all data, the entire operating system, applications, settings, patches and more, reducing their system(s) to “bare metal.” After all, before data can be restored to a system, there must be a system to restore it to.

In this one hour webinar, learn how to enhance your existing backup strategies for better disaster recovery preparedness using Storix System Backup Administrator (SBAdmin), a highly flexible bare-metal recovery solution for UNIX and Linux systems.